What the heck? Is this allowed? The mickeystoontown gang is back in the World and together again! Updated 4/13 x 6

[mickeystoontown]

I swear I'm never ever doing this again! Run!

Today was our first day in the parks and we were all ready to get some park on! John and I had been there a few days and it was killin' me that we hadn't been to a park yet.

We had a breakfast reservation to get to this morning so we were up early and at the bus stop with plenty of time to spare. A look at the bus arrival board scared me a little. There was no arrival time for a Magic Kingdom bus. Okay, so no big deal. I'd check the MDE app. No bus arrival time. It's fine. We have time. Ten minutes pass and I'm starting to worry just a bit. I check the app again and still no arrival time.

The line behind us was growing and had wound around the chains, around the big ol' S (as in ALL STAR MOVIES) and underneath the main walkway. Ten more minutes pass. I decided to attempt to modify the breakfast reservation online but I couldn't because we were too close to our ADR time.

I called Disney dining and explained what was going on. The cast member found a reservation for twenty minutes later than our original arrival time. We would be cutting it close but I took it. She also waived any change fees and wished us luck.

A few minutes later a bus pulls up. It's nearly full and only one family gets on. Seriously? The bus driver stepped out and assured us that another bus was right behind him and it was going to the Magic Kingdom. Yay! Up pulls the bus and it was almost full. Two families and a couple got on. By this time, guests were grumbling. Loudly. And I was ready to start grumbling too. Loudly.

Instead, I called Disney Dining again and explained our situation. They miraculously found a reservation for ten minutes after the second one. What are the odds of that when it took me forever to find a single reservation. I took it. Not that it would do us much good but, hey, ten minutes is ten minutes which is one minute shy of how long it took the next bus to pull up. This time, it was only half full and we got on. They crammed us in until there was no space to breath. We didn't care at this point.

As we stood nose to armpit (we were standing and holding onto the bars above), we discussed our strategy. By our calculations, we would pull into the Magic Kingdom right at the time of our ADR which would be okay IF we didn't have bag check OR the tapstiles to go through OR if we weren't near the back of the bus OR if our ADR wasn't way back in Fantasyland.

Hunter didn't have anything but his wallet in his pockets. John had nothing but his wallet and medicine. Lacey had a small crossbody bag. I had a hipster bag. The plan was for me to take the two bags. Hunter and Lacey make a mad dash through the no bag line and tapstiles and attempt to get to Be Our Guest check-in and plead with them to let us keep our reservation. John would go through no bag check and tapstiles and walk fast to Be Our Guest too. I was on my own with the two bags. I'd just have to get there as quickly as possible. **I'll tell you here that we aren't runners through the parkers. I don't like those who run through the parks or to the buses. Instead, we would power walk.

At the time of our visit, you were randomly selected to go through the metal detectors. Hunter got selected. John got selected. Lacey did not. I got lucky and entered a fast bag check line. By the time I was done, John was walking through the metal detector so I caught up with him and we went to the tapstiles.

Lacey and Hunter were going through the tapstiles to our left and we were in line off to the right. If y'all know us, you know that we are a competitive bunch and that competitive instinct kicked in. It was like the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day off where Ferris sees Jeannie. Jeannie sees Ferris.

They saw us. We saw them. A twinkle was in our eyes. And we were off! They went to the left of the castle. We went to the right. They were slightly ahead when we got cut off by a scooter. DANG IT! By the time we caught up with Hunter and Lacey, they were high fiving the cast members at the Be Our Guest check in and doing a little Disney dance. It's okay that they won the race 'cause we all benefited from it. We were having breakfast at Be Our Guest. I had pre ordered our breakfast but when we changed our reservation, the order was lost. We went through the line and placed our order, given our rose and told that we could then go find a table.



We found a table in the ballroom and waited.







Not long after, our food was delivered. Oops, this next picture is upside down or sideways or something. Three of us ordered this platter:



And then Lacey was the oddball in the bunch and ordered this:



A platter of pastries also comes with the breakfast:


Breakfast was good and we all enjoyed it Would I do an early breakfast again? Nope! I'll do (and we have) breakfast again but not an early one.

**Up next: Bears and Beards!
​

 

[oopsiDAISY]

What a nightmare with the bus situation!!!! I am interested to find out how the skyliners do, with bus transporation suspended for the routes covered by skyliner. I wonder if the lines and wait get longer for the skyliner. We will be staying at Pop, so we are technically on the skyliner route, but I have heard the walk with be quite a haul for us. I remember the Fantasyland sky buckets back in the day. I loved those as much as the People Mover.

 

[mickeystoontown]

What a nightmare with the bus situation!!!! I am interested to find out how the skyliners do, with bus transporation suspended for the routes covered by skyliner. I wonder if the lines and wait get longer for the skyliner. We will be staying at Pop, so we are technically on the skyliner route, but I have heard the walk with be quite a haul for us. I remember the Fantasyland sky buckets back in the day. I loved those as much as the People Mover.

Thankfully, that was the only really bad bus incident. Of course, it would have to be on the day that we had a breakfast reservation.

I think that you will be fine with the skyliner. We took it from Epcot to CBR and then back. They were constantly moving and there were a lot of them online. I think how far you guys will be from the skyliner station will depend on where you are located within the resort itself. I have two clients going soon and we requested that they be assigned a room in building 10. They are booked in a standard room so that looks to be about in the middle of the resort.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

Ugh, that is terrible! The buses at the All Stars can sometimes be slow and annoying, but I've never seen them that bad, or even close to it!

 

[mickeystoontown]

Ugh, that is terrible! The buses at the All Stars can sometimes be slow and annoying, but I've never seen them that bad, or even close to it!

This is the first time that we have been jammed up by a bus situation such as that one. It was bad that day!

 

[GrammyJudy]

When we have stayed at the All Stars they never shared buses in the morning or at park closing only in the middle of the day. Did you have bus issues like that the whole trip?

 

[mickeystoontown]

Bears and Beards!

Our breakfast done, it was time to stroll on over to our first Fastpass of the day. That meant we had to go through Frontierland and who did we happen upon? Oh my gosh! It's the Country Bears! Lacey and Hunter's favorites.

Lacey immediately whipped out her phone to a selfie with her favorite. I so wish that I had the actual picture she took instead of the two below.







Next it was Hunter's turn and he went in for a great big bear hug:



The two had to compare the hair on their chins:



And then smile for the camera



These pictures prove that you are never ever too old to meet the characters!

***OH MY GOSH! I finally have time to write and the next set of pictures are showing up sideways so I'm deleting them and going to figure out what's up.
So frustrating!
​

 

[mickeystoontown]

When we have stayed at the All Stars they never shared buses in the morning or at park closing only in the middle of the day. Did you have bus issues like that the whole trip?

Thankfully, no. The bus situation was never that bad again for the remainder of the trip.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Bears and Beards!

Impromptu character meet done, we continued our walk over to Adventureland which is where we would use our first Fastpass. We were visiting more bearded characters on Pirates of the Caribbean. We boarded our boat and were soon sailing through the mist.



And past the auction scene:






The rest of my pictures are blurry so I'll spare you guys and gals.

From Pirates of the Caribbean, we walked over to an attraction that was nearby and got in line, While waiting, I found this hidden Mickey in one of the poles in the outdoor pre-show.



and I took a picture of the light fixture because the half flower looks similar to a hidden Mickey.




Ever since John, Hunter and I took the Keys to the Kingdom tour, I have a new appreciation for our next attraction. Enchanted Tiki Room. During the tour, we were told that the Imagineers had everything ready for the show to open and Walt came in to have the first look. He sat through the show and, at the end, told the Imagineers that they had to start over again. When they asked why, he said that the birds' chests didn't move when they sang and real birds' chests move when they sing. So, he made them rework every single bird in the show. Now, when we visit the Enchanted Tiki Room, I watch the birds' as they sing and think of Walt.










Up Next: Let's whip it baby! Whip it right!
​

 

[mickeystoontown]

Even though it hadn't been too long since we had breakfast. we couldn't pass up the opportunity to snack on a Disney favorite, a Dole Whip!

While John and I waited in line, Lacey and Hunter went to look for a table. I hate table stalking but in a small space such as this, they had no other choice. Just before we walked over, a table came open and Lacey snagged it.

Y'all, I think that I could eat a Dole Whip a day and never get tired of them. John, Lacey and I got the Dole Whip float while Hunter went with just a dish of the ice cream.





The swirl on my float left a hollow space in the middle but that was okay because it allowed the juice to get all throughout the float. Ummm ummm ummm, my mouth is watering just looking at the pictures.


Because we know how hard it is to find a table, we usually watch to see if someone is looking for an empty table and hand it off to them. We spotted a small family and waved them over. It's the simple things like this that people seem to appreciate. Or at least I do and I hope others do as well. If I am remembering correctly, we cut through to Frontierland and saw the Country Bear Jamboree but I don't have picture proof.

I do, however, know that we walked through Liberty Square and stopped for a minute to watch the Muppets outside of Hall of Presidents. Disney has since stopped this "show" so it was nice that we were able to see a bit of it.



**Up next: Do you see what I sea?​

 

[deedeew80]

I do, however, know that we walked through Liberty Square and stopped for a minute to watch the Muppets outside of Hall of Presidents. Disney has since stopped this "show" so it was nice that we were able to see a bit of it.

View attachment 470491

**Up next: Do you see what I sea?​

I did not know they stopped this show! Any reason why? Glad we were able to catch it on our last visit.

 

[natebenma]

In the bus on the way to you-know-where!

I felt your stress waiting for that bus and having all the full ones come by. Beach club boat can be like that too in the morning.
On our first stay at ASMu we were an hour late for a Kona breakfast reservation. At least at that time there were no pentalties. Nice job calling dining. Smart!

 

[natebenma]

That’s cool that you had an impromptu meet with the bears.

your mist picture at pirates is excellent!

thanks for sharing the hidden Mickeys and info about the tiki room. I don’t go on it often but next time I’ll look to see if the birds are breathing

dole whips. Mmmmmmmmm!

 

[Clarf]

OMG that bus scenario is why we don't take the busses. Jason would have a heart attack I think in that situation. I'm glad it all worked out though!

So interesting about the Tiki Room! Wow! I'll watch for that next time for sure. We love that show!

I didn't know they ever did that little Muppets show. Now I'm sad I'll never get to see it.

 

[PhoenixStrength]

I always meant to watch the Muppets show there, but never did and now we can't.

Interesting fact about the Tiki room! I got Haunted Mansion only when I did KTTK alone, and HM and Jungle Cruise the 2nd time with George so I hadn't heard that one!

 

[oopsiDAISY]

YUMMMM, Dole Whip!!!

 

[jenseib]

Disney has since stopped this "show"

I didn't know they stopped this too. It's not like a fabulous show, but is a nice extra for people to see.

 

[Steppesister]

Lots of fun updates!! I think I'd have taken a Lyft early on when I saw the situation. So easy and not that expensive!!

But you made it and had a really fun morning!

 

[mickeystoontown]

I did not know they stopped this show! Any reason why? Glad we were able to catch it on our last visit.

I wish that we had been able to see it all instead of just a short bit of it.

In the bus on the way to you-know-where!

I felt your stress waiting for that bus and having all the full ones come by. Beach club boat can be like that too in the morning.
On our first stay at ASMu we were an hour late for a Kona breakfast reservation. At least at that time there were no pentalties. Nice job calling dining. Smart!

Oh I know where you are and am envious!

The bus situation was killin' us that morning. It was so frustrating.

That’s cool that you had an impromptu meet with the bears.

You would have thought that Lacey and Hunter were still little kids. They were loving the bears.

your mist picture at pirates is excellent!

Thank you! When we were there this past Thanksgiving, the mist was completely gone.

thanks for sharing the hidden Mickeys and info about the tiki room. I don’t go on it often but next time I’ll look to see if the birds are breathing

Walt was such a stickler for making sure everything worked exactly like they should. The breathing birds is just one exxample.

dole whips. Mmmmmmmmm!

OMG that bus scenario is why we don't take the busses. Jason would have a heart attack I think in that situation. I'm glad it all worked out though!

We never drive anywhere when we are at Disney. It is usually way less stressful to let Disney do the driving. But not that morning!

So interesting about the Tiki Room! Wow! I'll watch for that next time for sure. We love that show!

I didn't know they ever did that little Muppets show. Now I'm sad I'll never get to see it.

 

[mickeystoontown]

I always meant to watch the Muppets show there, but never did and now we can't.

I had forgotten about the show until we stumbled upon it.

Interesting fact about the Tiki room! I got Haunted Mansion only when I did KTTK alone, and HM and Jungle Cruise the 2nd time with George so I hadn't heard that one!

We got to do Haunted Mansion, Tiki Birds and Pirates of the Caribbean.

YUMMMM, Dole Whip!!!

Ummmm, hummmm!

I didn't know they stopped this too. It's not like a fabulous show, but is a nice extra for people to see.

I always like the "little shows" like that one. It's too bad they have stopped running this one.

Lots of fun updates!! I think I'd have taken a Lyft early on when I saw the situation. So easy and not that expensive!!

But you made it and had a really fun morning!

Looking back at the situation, we should have just driven ourselves. Hindsight is 20/20.